Digimon: Season Zero
by RyoShin
Summary: The very first Digidestined... The original evil Digimon... An old friend... And, where all of the Digimon saga began...
1. Prologue

**Mass Disclaimer: Tai, Izzy, Cody, and company are copyright Bandai/Toei. Digimon is copyright Bandai/Toei. All original characters and Digimon are copyright myself, and I request that you ask before using them, though I usually don't have a problem with that.**

---===(| Digimon 00: An Old Hope (Prologue) |)===---

A sharp wind blew outside of a condo in uptown Tokyo. Some shades closed, lights off, and the only sound was the occasional hyperactive dog barking at some unseen trespasser and the crickets. Everyone was asleep, a long day's work behind them, resting for a new day. Or trying to.  
BRRRRIIIIIINNNGGG!  
Tai snapped upright in his bed, the loud noise waking him from his normally-dreamless slumber. It took him only a millisecond to remember who and where he was. And what the noise was. A phone call. Not the first one that night. Being the ambassador to another world can do that at times. He often wished that the job would be passed along to someone else like Davis or Matt, someone who might stand all the pressure. Or at least find a way to get around it. But he knew he wouldn't give up his job for the world. Too many perks, and probably the only thing he could really do, since he was guaranteed the job right after high school. Besides, he had fun a lot more often than not, too. But. Maybe something in politics...  
BRRRRIIIIIIING!  
Oh, yeah, the phone. "Hello?" Tai asked after picking it up. He hooked the earpiece over his earlobe, maneuvering the microphone to be closer to his mouth. He hated it when people moved the mic around. "Oh, hi, Joe," he said, listening to the voice on the other end. "Wait, wait. Say that again, only this time slow down and stop sniffling every other word." A pause. "Oh..." Tai looked out his open window into the night, a small frown on his face. Not good news. "Are you sure?" Another pause. "Okay. I'll deal with it in the morning, but right now I'm beat." Tai listened some more. "Yeah... Okay, you do that. I'll get back to you in the morning. Talk to you then, bye."   
Tai clicked a small button near the earpiece, and set the phone back down on the bed stand. He rubbed his temples, sighing. Always the hard stuff. "Computer," he said, then heard a chime indicating response. "Set wake up call one hour earlier. And change my breakfast to something with carbohydrates or something that will wake me up." Tai hated coffee. Maybe some tea. With extra sugar. He let gravity take him back to his bed, and was fast asleep within minutes.

BRRRRRRIIINNNNGGGG!  
_Wha__...? Joe?_ Tai asked himself with the sound of the ringing. He looked at his phone, then at the clock, and realized it was just his wake up call. He chided to himself that he should look into financing some cloning project so that he could sleep in while a duplicate worked for him. But that would be later. Now he needed to get ready for the day. He went into the bathroom, and decided to have a normal, H20 shower. He got dressed, and went downstairs, kissing his wife as he left the room. Breakfast was waiting for him, as normal. Pancakes, extra carbs, just as he asked. At least his computer knew his personality. He pulled out one of his wife's bottled teas that she liked to import from the US, and put a few extra scoops of sugar in, before sitting down to eat.   
He grabbed the PEN (Phireside Electronic Newspaper) pad on the counter and read up on the recent news, both foreign and local. When he was done, he noted certain stories, and then downloaded them into his MEA (MonoElectronic Assistant), just as his wife walked down the stairs.   
"Is T.J. up yet?" she asked him, looking around. A loud sound from T.J.'s room upstairs confirmed that he was well awake. Tai just smiled, hooking his MEA into a small slot in the wall under the TV. After a few seconds, it beeped, and he sat back down, reading the current reports from Prime Digimon, Inc., the company that owns and runs all of the two current Digital Portals in the world. Tai worked with them in conjunction with the governments of Japan and the US, the homes of the two ports. Tourism was up, and there were some contracts up with some small businesses moving to the Digital World. They also reported that some on-their-own businesses were still on schedule with their own Digiports. PDi always kept track of that, both for the financial and humane safety.  
"So who was that on the phone last night?" Mrs. Kamiya asked her husband, coming over to kiss him.  
"Oh, did I wake you?" Tai asked, and she nodded slightly, arms wrapped about him. "Sorry about that, June."  
"No, that's okay," she replied, going over to the computer and choosing her own breakfast. She didn't like to have the computer make the same thing every morning as Tai did. "So who was it?"  
"Joe. Apparently, Gennai died yesterday. At least, that's what Joe's initial analysis was. But he said Gennai could have been dead for a month, which was the last time Joe knew of anyone talking to him, because they're still examining the effects of dying in the digital world," he replied, scrolling down on his MEA.  
"Oh...," June tried to fake a sad look, but failed. She had never known Gennai at all, so the loss wasn't as big to her. "Who was... Nevermind. So why did he call you about it?" She brushed some of her red hair away from her face.  
"Well, though many of the textbooks omit it, mainly because they focus more on us Digidestined, Gennai was a big part of being able to defeat Venom- and MaloMyotismon. I can't believe that he died, though. I mean, when we fought the Dark Masters, he was this old dude. Then, when we had our little bit with having to take care of Digimon around the world, he appeared again, but he was much, much younger. I thought he would have lived for much longer than that."  
"Maybe human DNA in the Digital World actual works backwards from what it does here..." June thought aloud, taking a sip from her cup.   
"That's one thing they're looking into over there. There has been speculation," Tai said, finishing his breakfast and setting down his fork. He walked over to a mirror and fixed his tie. "Anyway, besides Gennai being a personal friend, he had the sort of hero figure. And, I being the ambassador to the digital world and all, well, you know." The computer flashed a note across the mirror, alerting Tai that his driver was here. He had called in earlier while getting dressed. "I have to go. I'll see you later tonight." He kissed his wife and ran out the door.   
"One... two... three," June said, and Tai came back in through the door, grabbed his MEA, and ran back out, but not without kissing his wife again. June smiled at the closed door as she heard the hum of his corporate vehicle drive off. Then another noise came upstairs, and she walked back up to make sure T.J. hadn't broken anything. Item or bone.

"Mr. Kido is here, Mr. Kamiya," Tai's secretary informed him over the two-way com speaker. Tai looked at the ceiling of his office, which he often thought was as big as his own home. The roof towered over 15 feet above him, while the mellow tan walls conveyed his favorite paintings, as well as artist's renditions of his journeys as a kid. He didn't have many pieces of furniture in his office, going for the minimalist approach. He wouldn't be able to enjoy it much with his paperwork, anyway.   
"All right. Send him in," Tai responded, and stood up as Joe entered. "Heya, Joe. Nice to see a friendly face in this pack of hounds," Tai said, shaking Joe's hands and waving his other at the mass of papers on his desk. "I don't know what I'm signing half the time. Care for a Pepsi or something?" he asked, walking over to the mini fridge in his office. Another perk.  
"But you sign them anyway, huh? I'll have a root beer, if you have any," Joe replied, sitting down on the couch against one wall. His mind skimmed the duties he was shirking, passed to someone else, for this event. Still a workaholic, Tai was trying to get him to see a therapist to get him off his work fetish. Joe shoved the thoughts from his mind, concentrating on the task at hand. Tai walked over, handing him the soda, and plopped down beside him on the couch, leaning his head against the wall. "So... What are we going to do?" Joe asked Tai, and took a drink from the can.  
"Why are you asking me?" Tai said, turning his head. Joe just gave him a crazy look. Tai sighed. "Yeah, yeah... Well, first, where's his body?"  
"One of the three hospitals in the Digital world. The doctors there wanted to examine him, but I made them stay back for now.  You never know what they might find.  If I let them open him up, they might want to keep him in a jar or something.  And, doctor though I may be, that just doesn't seem right." Tai nodded, taking another drink from his soda, and looked out the window. "Odd thing, though."  
"What's that?" Tai asked, as Joe took a drink from his can.  
"His body shows absolutely no sign of decay. I mean, even people who come over here from the real world decay, albeit slower, when they die. Gennai shows no signs of decay. None. Zip. Zilch. Na-"  
"I get the point," Tai said, interrupting Joe.  
"So how are you going to handle this?" Joe asked, waving his can around a little bit.   
Tai thought for a minute before answering. "Well... I'm gonna call Cody. I'm sure Gennai has a will, so Cody can control that," he said, slouching forward and staring at his shoes and the red carpet. "Izzy, too. Gennai collected a lot of data on Digimon, and I'm sure he would have wanted to share. Izzy could crack anything"  
"Probably in his will. The Digimatoligsts would get a kick out of that," Joe said. Digimontology was a recently-created field of scientific study. Even during the DigiDestined's escapades and for years afterwards, people studied Digimon, but there really was no field. Within the last ten years, interest really perked up over studying Digimon instead of just training, and a new field was created to accommodate this. Many considered Joe the head of Digimontology, since he mainly doctored Digimon, but he didn't.   
"Mmmm.... T.K. will probably want to put this into some new novel or other he's writing. He may or may not come, though. We won't be able to keep Davis away. Everyone knows and loves him, and there's no way we could hide something like this from him. Is it the hospital in Port Prime?" Joe nodded. Tai stood up, took his can and Joe's empty one and put them in the recycling chute. "Alright then. I'll make some calls myself. My secretary works hard enough as is," Tai said to Joe, smiling, and shook Joe's hand as he stood up as well. "I'll see you later. Try to keep this underwraps for now. Don't know what freak might think Gennai was some pagan saint and try to cremate him or something."  
"Okay," Joe replied, as Tai walked him to the door. "I'll try to sector off that wing or something. I'm sure there won't be a problem." Tai opened the door and let Joe walk out. He waved to Joe as Joe walked out the door opposite of his.   
"Mrs. Kanzaki? Try to cancel my appointments for this afternoon. Something important has come up." His secretary nodded in response, talking to someone on the phone. Tai could never just cancel anything- his position was just too prominent and important for that. He just had to try to shove things. He walked back into his office, shutting the door, and stood by the window, looking at the buzzing activity down below and, in the far distance, the giant multicolor circle which was the link between the real world and the Digital one. He rubbed his temples before picking up the phone and dialing Cody's number.

---------------------------------

He was right. Davis did hear about it before Tai could call him, and he did want to come. T.K. couldn't come, though, because he and Kari were on a cruise. Tai smirked at the thought. It was still slightly funny, being related to your best friend. Izzy was ready and willing, as always. Cody could make it, but they had to wait a week, because he had some big court case to get through.  
Which brought them to today. Tai, Cody, Davis, Joe, and Izzy stood over Gennai's body, which was covered with a white sheet. As Joe had promised, that wing of the hospital was zoned off, though it didn't hurt the hospital at all. They didn't get many human patients. They had been there, silent, for a good half hour. No one knew what to say. What to do.  
It was Davis who finally broke the silence. "Can we remove the cover?" he asked no one in particular.  
"Why?" Joe responded, looking up at him and cocking an eye.  
"I haven't seen him for 20 years. I've talked to him off and on, but he and I were never as close as your original group was. I don't think he even got involved with the third group," Davis replied, fumbling with his hands.  
"I would like to see him also. I didn't talk to him much, just like Davis," Cody added, his briefcase in his hands. The trial had gone well. No one had really won, but it had set an important precedent of the treatment of Digimon in Japan. Mostly, they had been regarded with some respect, though many feared them for what the likes of Myotismon had done. They had some freedoms now, and, with the court case, if humans attacked Digimon, they could be charged with the same crimes as if they had attacked a human.   
"Actually, he did help out quite a bit with the third group, but only a handful of people know the whole story. It was too bad that they didn't make it," Tai said. He didn't have to explain who 'they' were.  
"I don't think there should be a problem with taking a gander. I mean, he's not decomposing or anything," Joe said, shrugging off Tai's words. He didn't like to think much of the third group. Too many bad memories. He grabbed the top portion of the sheet covering Gennai's head and brought it away, down to his waist. Davis gasped, and Cody held a blank stare.   
"He's... He's still young!" Davis exclaimed.  
"Actually, he might be rather old according to digital standards. There's some talk of human development working backwards, but no real basis yet. Not to mention that he's probably more digital than the rest of us could be, so that might be part of it," Joe said, putting the tarp back over Gennai.   
"So are we going to have a funeral for him publicly or privately?" Izzy asked Tai.  
"We're thinking privately. A small handful of people, including the Digidestined. I doubt we'll see any big media coverage, even if it was public" Tai responded, and started walking out of the room. "You wanna see the techno junk, Izzy?" Izzy nodded, and followed Tai out. Joe and the others trailed behind a second later.  
"We have it stored back here for easy reach, and so anyone that might stumble upon his house won't try to take it for memorabilia or something," Joe explained as he caught up to Izzy and Tai. Davis and Cody lagged behind. Izzy nodded.  
"What about the will?" Cody asked as they continued walking.   
"Um... we don't exactly have that. We believe there is one, but all of his junk is labeled in Binary code, and neither Tai nor me know how to read it that well. We could have called in someone else, but we decided it was better to just wait until Izzy came." They approached a locked room reading 'storage', and walked inside. The far wall was stuffed with toiletries and extra sheets. But either sides of the room were cluttered with electric gizmos and all sorts of storage devices.   
"Have at it," Tai said to Izzy, waving at all the stuff. Izzy's eyes lit up like it was Christmas. A lot of the stuff was old school, hard drives with only 20 gigabytes, CD drives, towers, and the like. Whatever he couldn't or didn't use could most certainly be sold for quite a sum, either to a museum or some private collector. He dove in, peering at each binary label for a second before moving on.   
"Found it!" he exclaimed as he neared the other end of the room. He walked back, holding a CD with 1's and 0's all over the top, binary code.   
"How do you know that's the will?" Davis asked, giving a skeptical look.  
"Because it reads 'Gennai's Will,'" Izzy responded, smiling. He handed it to Cody, who looked the thing over.   
"I haven't used a CD in ages. I don't think I even have anything that can read these anymore. And I know they don't sell them. I think the firm might have one, just for events like this, but..."  
"I have a CD drive on my laptop, back at the hotel," Izzy said, interrupting Cody. He looked around the room, and went about moving things into more of an organized system. "I think we should leave this here until Cody gets through with the will." The others nodded in response."All this gloom is giving me the willies. I say a dip in the pool is in order."   
Tai looked up at Izzy, smiling. "Prodigious idea, Izzy," he said, and walked out of the room.  
"Hey! That's my word!" Izzy complained as he followed Tai out. The others chuckled as they left themselves.

---------------------------------

"You know, I could use one of these at home...," Cody said to Izzy. Cody stood over Izzy's shoulder watching as Izzy decoded and transferred the document that held the will to a format and storage device that Cody could use. It had taken Izzy a good part of the day to change the file from one format to another. Now it was just a bit before it was transferred.  
"Say no more," Izzy said as the computer made a beeping sound. "I can get you a system close to this so you can read old data devices. I might have to do a little digging for a free one, though. Maybe I can put one together from all of Gennai's leftover stuff...," he said as an afterthought, and handed Cody the small device that now held the will.  
"That'll depend on what the will says," Cody replied as he put the device in his briefcase.  
"So what are you going to do? Stay here in Port Prime and do that, or go home?" Izzy asked. He snapped his fingers, and the computer shut off.  
"Probably go home. I have some after-court stuff still to do, and I can work better in my own study. But first, I thought a little R and R is called for, what with all this, so I'm having my wife and Yukio come down. I was able to get ahold of Armadillomon, so we are going to visit later," he patted his briefcase. "I may just fiddle with the will during then. Depends on how things go." Cody stood and turned to walk out the door. As he was about to open it, a knock came from without, and he swung the door open without hesitation.  
"Hey, guys," Tai said, standing in 'civilian' clothes, jeans and a gray T-shirt."Any luck on the will yet?"  
"Izzy just got it into something I can use," Cody replied, waving the briefcase a little bit. "With all this court stuff and such, I decided I'll take some vacation time with my family, and then work on it after that. Only a day or two, but heaven knows I need it."  
Tai frowned a bit, scuffing his shoe on the carpet. "Do you think you might be able to postpone that vacation a bit? Joe's informed me that people have been snooping around the hospital. Davis has gone there to try to ward people off, under the cover of visiting what kids they have there, which he does a lot anyway. I want to get Gennai and his stuff out of there ASAP, but I don't want to do it until we read the will," he said, looking back up at Cody. "In other words, I need that now."  
"I was looking forward to my vacation," Cody replied, sighing.  
"I can always get another lawyer to look it over," he offered. "Though, I don't know anyone else as versed in Digital Law as you do."  
"No, no, that's okay," Cody said. He looked to the ground, then back to Tai with a smile. "Maybe I can still have a little get away. I would never be able to work on it 24/7, and Yukio can have fun by himself or with Debbie. And Yukio just adores Armadillomon."  
"I have no qualms with that," Tai replied, smiling back at Cody. Izzy sat in his chair, listening into all of this, not having much of an option.  
"Okay, then. I better go call Debbie and let her know what's going on. Excuse me," Cody said to Tai, and Tai moved out of his way to let him make the call. He watched as Cody entered his own room, then Tai entered Izzy's room, closing the door.  
"He really could have used some time off," he said to Tai, standing up. "I saw the proceedings for the court trial, and it was a b-"  
"Yeah, well, this is important, too" Tai said, interrupting Izzy. "I know he needs the free time, but if I can't make some firm decisions soon, this could explode in my face. Not in a big way, but large enough that I really don't want it to happen."  
"So this is selfishness?" Izzy asked, cocking an eye.  
"No," Tai said defensively, then paused for a moment. "Okay, maybe a little. But there can still be repercussions to other people and so forth. You don't want Gennai's body being stolen away by some Digi-religon freak, do you?" This got a shy look from Izzy. He looked away.  
"Of course not," Izzy said, looking back. He stretched his arms out into the air. "I guess I don't think a whole lot about politics. I'm just a geek, after all," he said, smiling.  
"You always have been," Tai said as he left, leaving Izzy to his thoughts.

---------------------------------

Two days passed quickly. Cody spent more time than he meant to on the will, but that didn't mean he didn't have fun. He even surprised himself by going over most of the will in brief in the two days. He made some very interesting discoveries about the items Gennai had left behind, and was talking with Izzy and Tai about it.   
"Mostly, it's data on Digimon and the Digital World. Some of it is about his botany hobbies. Letters from friends- get this: there were many more humans in the digital world before you came. From what I've read, there may have even been a small city of people like Gennai- human, but not digital. Only checking the disks can tell," Cody said to Izzy, looking over a print out of indexed items so far. His family's bags were stacked over by the door. He was planning to head home tonight. Izzy took a sip from his drink as he followed along on his own copy. Tai just sat and listened in, deep in thought. Or just spacing out. "Speaking of which, he doesn't really leave anything to anyone in particular, so you can probably decide the best way to use them. There's a few personal items for us Digidestined and so forth, but that's it."  
"Burial?" Tai asked, still holding the same thoughtful position.  
"Doesn't say, either. I would go with a plain casket-in-the-ground burial here in digi firma. Either way, remember that I just kind of went through it quickly to look for stuff like that, so we can't legally do anything without my first doing a detailed transcript. Shouldn't take more than a week. I'd say go ahead with some funeral for now. I don't see any reason for legal trouble."  
"That should take care of it, then," Tai said, and stood up, stretching. Izzy took another drink from his glass and set it back down along with his copy of the will. "I have some calls to make, so I'm going to head back to my room."  
"Ditto," Izzy said.  
"Hang on a second," Cody said, standing up as well, and turned to another page of the will. "There's an important item that concerns all of us Digidestined. One that may be of particular interest to others, as well. The paragraph on it reads 'To the guardians of the Digital World, I bequeath history. A prominent, important history which I want to be known. Alpha 004.' He only labeled five things with regular lettering. This was one of them," Cody said, holding up a small CD-like object no bigger than a wrist watch, reading 'Alpha 004'. While he went through the will, Cody had all of Gennai's stuff transferred from the hospital to an adjacent room which connected to his. He took stock of everything as he went through the will. "Izzy, I'd like you to start looking through this to see what's on it, then tell me when you can. For some reason, my laptop won't accept it, though it seems to fit into the Inverse Drive."  
Izzy took the object from Cody and examined it, flipping it over many times. "And it is an Inverse Disk. Odd," he mumbled, and pocketed the object. "Anyway, I have a semiannual conference here in two days with other lead computer/Digimon related engineers, so I'm just going to stay here until then."  
Tai nodded. "I'm going to ship out tomorrow, but only because I like sleeping, and could do with a late wake-up call. Izzy, I want you to call me as well when you get something from that. I have a hunch it's more than any of us expect," he said, then waved good-bye and walked out, Izzy following soon after.

---------------------------------

Tai had turned out to be quite the diplomat, much better than anyone expected. He had successfully incorporated laws to aid Digimon's rights in the real world, and helping the Digimon set up their own government to kind of look over the Digital world, which was going quite well. No one knew if it was the disposition of the Digimon, or if those appointed for Digital office were that good, but their own form of Democracy was like a magical wave, and most Digimon were complying very well. For that matter, they had more freedom than humans in the Digital world, who were governed by a subsection of the Digital Democracy. That was an idea of the Prime Minister of the Digital world, none other than T.K.'s Patamon, now Digivolved to Angemon.   
Through some studies, humans found out how to write code that could allow certain Digimon to digivolve and devolve at will. The Digidestined's Digimon were the first to have it, and they liked being in their rookie forms (except Gatomon) when in the real world, even some times in the Digital one. Armadillomon frequently went Digmon to help construct new towns for both Digimon and Humans, though the Digital Democracy was doing it's best to try to keep construction to a minimal.  
For the moment, though Armadillomon was back in the real world, watching Cody as he went through the will more thoroughly. "Ya found anything interestin' yet?" Cody shook his head.  
"No", he replied. It had been about 3 days since he came back to the Digital World, only to be surprised that his partners in law had done most of the filing and such for him on his case. This left him more time then he thought to get the will read. He was right in his earlier observation- Gennai had left little to anyone specific. He was still waiting for the call from Izzy on that disk. He thought it best not to call Izzy to disturb him, especially since he might be at that conference. Besides, whatever was on it probably wasn't all that important, anyway.   
Pure coincidence rang the phone at the time Cody was thinking about it. "Hello?" he asked as he arranged his headset.  
Tai surprised everyone with his diplomatic skills. Half the time, it was because his hunches were right.  
"No way," Cody said, totally uncharacteristic. He listened for a few more minutes as Izzy rambled. "Wait, wa- no. Can you use layman's terms, please? And I just want to know what's on it, not how you created a program to read it." He paused, listening. "Have you called Tai? Okay. I'll be there tomorrow. Bye," he said, and pressed a button on the headset to turn off the phone. He swiveled on his chair to face Armadillomon, who was lying in another chair next to him. "Now we found something interesting," he said as he got up to go get something to eat.  
"What's it?" Armadillomon asked, but Cody brushed his question aside.  
"Later," he said. He dug through the fridge to see if there was any prune juice.

---------------------------------

"So this is basically an account of the _very first_ team of Digidestined?" Tai asked.  
"Yup," Izzy replied, typing away as the screen scrolled with indecipherable characters. During his stay at the hotel, he had modified his Inverse Drive to accept the disk, built a program with which to decode the highly sensitive security protocol on the disk, and written 'Ghostbusters III'. "Though I think I could have done that better."  
"No kidding," said Cody, looking at the manuscript. "It's five pages long." Cody and Tai stood behind Izzy, watching his computer work. They had arrived earlier that morning, and had brunch with some other friends before heading up to Izzy's hotel room.  
"So I need to work on it. Anyway, the disk has a messload of information and all of it is behind a lockout command, so this program has to work slowly to decode it. I've gotten a bit here. Luckily, it's doing it in order instead of jumping around, it seems. Here, take a look at this," Izzy said, and turned the screen for all three to see. A cursor flashed as Izzy pressed a button, and then it was zooming across the screen, leaving letters in it's wake.

Hello, there! If my will was followed to a T, and I hope it was, only the Digidestined could read this. Of course, only they could, since I put a lockout on this that only Izzy could crack, the little scamp. I knew you could do it, Izzy- having let you study on my computers wasn't such a bad idea, eh? 

Anyway, the purpose of this lockout was not to keep people from seeing it, but to let those who should see it first, well, see it first. Meaning the Digidestined. They should know how this got started. I wasn't able to include any images because this was back in the day, so you'll have to go by imagination. What follows is 'chapters' of the adventures of the original Digidestined, as accounted by them. Actually, more like their Digimon, or what Digimon were left at the end. 

Obviously, if you're reading this, I am indeed dead. Don't cry for me- I was long past due. Just remember the fun times, and it'll be all good. I hope you learn a lot about reading this!

- Gennai (PS Izzy, most of those disks have info on Digimon, which I'm sure you and Joe might find useful in your modern-day jobs. Good luck!) 

"Gennai...," Tai said, brushing away a tear. There was awkward silence for a moment, as if they had just spoken to the dead. Of course, in a sense, they just had.  
"So," Cody said, breaking the silence and tilting his head away from the screen, "do you have any of the story decrypted?"   
"Not enough to be worth reading right now," Izzy replied, pressing a few keys to make the words disappear. "He said it was divided up into chapters, so I guess it would be best to just wait until I decode one, then another, and so forth. Less tension, then."  
"So I guess we let this thing do it's thing," Tai said, poking the computer.   
Izzy nodded. "Yup. Oh, and I'm going to need to keep this hotel room for a while. I don't want to turn the computer off because I'm afraid the program might be lost. I made it rather quickly, so it doesn't have many functions aside from this base one."  
"I'll take care of that," Tai said. He waved goodbye and headed outside of the room. After closing the door, he looked up and stared at the ceiling, wondering what they would find in this archive.He thoughts were broken by the door opening again. He turned his head to look at Cody, who walked out and closed the door behind him. The two stared at each other for a minute. The conservative and the outgoing.   
"This should be interesting," Cody said, and walked on down to the lobby, leaving Tai in his thoughts once again. Everyone said Tai was a good ambassador. And a good leader. He was wondering how he would compare with the very first leader.

---------------------------------

A/N: Right now, this is on a first come, first serve basis in updates, meaning I'll update it when I can. School and work take up time, you know. Soon, I hope to be able to work far enough ahead to be able to post weekly, but that will come if and when. For now, just check out my author bio to see when I may get the next part uploaded, and for my other chapters. Oh, and for you Duhgimon lovers, don't worry: The next part is in the works. ;) 


	2. Almost Alpha, Part 1

_ Why... why are they chasing me...?   
Gotta run gotta run gotta run left, no right straight boulder dodge it run run run they'll catch me can't let them catch me don't know what they'll do gotta run run run I can hear them why are they chasing me...  
_A teenager ran through a strangely-colored forest, dodging branches that seemed to be alive, trying to keep going. Monstorous voices chased him, cackling raspy voices filling his ears and almost clouding his memories. A powerful wind blew, wiping his messy hair into his emerald green eyes, making him blink. He was afraid to blink. He might trip. And then all could be lost.  
_Will this forest ever end have to get out must escape run run run can't I loose them why are they still following I haven't done anything to them is anyone around could I call for help tree branch! hide I must hide where can I hide... A cave!  
_ He dodged into a cave in the base of mountains that just seemed to appear out of thin air. He didn't question the help, he just ran in, afraid for his life, what those creatures are, what they might do to them. He hid behind a pile of stones, hunched down, trying to slow his heart and to not breath, but finding both hard to do. He shut his eyes, and covered his head with his hands, hearing the voices coming closer. He shivered a bit, trying to keep his body still now, as he heard the voices stop at the cave. Their cackles still rang, though now with a questioning tone. Were they not able to smell or hear him? Had it been luck on their part that he had not evaded them until now? They seemed confused. He stopped shaking for a micro-second. Was it possible that they were confused?  
_Please don't eat me..._   
Suddenly, the voices were gone. He heard nothing, except for the rustling of the multi-colored grass in the wind. He waited for what seemed like an eternity, praying that he was right and that they were gone. Finally he mustered up enough courage to peer over the rocks to see if what chased him lie in waiting. He rose slowly, awaiting whatever horror might be on the other side. He closed his eyes the second before they were over the ridge of the stones, and held his breath, waiting for an attack.   
There was none. He opened his eyes.  
They were gone. He released a sigh of relief, leaning against the cave wall. Where the hell was he? He knew this wasn't earth. Wasn't Japan. He wasn't in Tokyo. Not Tokyo. Definatly. He looked outside again, making sure nothing was out there, and then looked into the cave. It hadn't occured to him that some animal might be living in there when he hid. Luck was on his side, and there was no animal in there. However, there was a light source from inside.   
Shoving off worries, figuring that if he ventured out that he would be attacked again, he walked toward the light. He rubbed his skin through his green pants and white shirt where he had been cut and scratched by rocks and trees. He stumbled a bit, weariness still upon him, and he tried to shrug that off as well. When he reached it, he realized that there was a stairwell in front of him. He choose to follow it, curiosity and some other sense proding him.  
When he reached the top after a long walk, the view took away what breath he had. He was standing on a tall mountain, no less than 200 yards tall, staring over a large valley of lush trees, all different colors. Similar mountains jutted up all over. He blinked once, and could have sworn that a mountain had disappeared and another appeared farther off. He rubbed his eyes, and turned around to look at the flat he stood on. It was just that, relatively flat, except for piles of rocks. And one lone tree.  
The boy found it odd that there was only one tree up there. No other grass, shrubs, or flora was up there. Except that tree. And it's delicious-looking red fruit. His stomach growled to remind him that he had been running for some time. Carefully, he walked toward the tree. Not ten feet from it, a voice rang out, freezing him in his tracks.  
"Are you the one?" the voice asked, in a slightly raspy tone, yet high, somehow.   
_Did they find me?!_ The boy panicked. He looked around, something might be able to be used as a weapon. But whatever had chased him was fast, and he wouldn't be able to reach any of the big boulders around him, not to mention pick them up. There was only one thing to do. "One what?" he asked the voice.  
"Silly," it said, "The one. My partner. Chosen. I have been waiting for him. Are you him?"   


----====(| Digimon: Season Zero |)====----  
**- - = = (| [Episode 1] Almost Alpha, Part 1 |) = = - -**

He woke up suddenly. He sat straight up in bed, taking in harsh, raspy breathes, as if his chest was being crushed. He moved his eyes frantically, trying to remember where he was, the fear from the dream still rushing through his system. He calmed down after a minute, realizing that he was in his own bed in his own house, not some fictisious forest. No voices, no cackling laughs, just home.   
He sighed, and then realized that his covers and pillow were slightly damp. Sweat. He was still sweating, even though the dream was over. Something about the dream, it just... just... seemed so _real_. No, he corrected himself as he got out of bed, not a dream, a nightmare. And not for the first time, either. This must have been the tenth time he had the same dream in only two weeks. It was getting so he would wake up at night, not be able to go back to sleep, and then sleep in class.  
He looked at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was only one in the morning. He rubbed his eyes and walked to the bathroom for some water. He stopped to look at himself in the mirror. Messy hair, sleepy eyes, ruffled pajamas. He should have expected this. But he wasn't. "Chad Miyamoto, what is wrong with you?" he asked the reflection in the mirror. Just like his own mind couldn't, the reflection didn't answer back.   
He got his water and went back to his bed, hoping with all his might that he wouldn't have the nightmare again. And this time, it did not come.

* * *

"Chad?" He felt a poke at his shoulder. He brushed the hand away, and tried to sleep. "Chad." He was poked again. He was quickly becoming annoyed. Having had a bad night didn't help, either. He brushed the hand away, and muttered something that was meant to be 'go away', but turned out all wrong. "Chad. Get up, you lazy bird." Another poke. Chad whipped his head up, off his arms, ready to yell at the offender, not caring if it was a teacher or not. He snapped his head around to face whoever it was, but his voice got caught in his throat.  
"You shouldn't sleep in class, Chad. You know how Mr. Yamauchi hates that. Don't want a detention, do you?" the female in front of him asked. Chad sighed, rubbed his eyes, and tried to blink away his weariness. He looked away, leaned back against his chair, then looked back with a less-then-coherent expression.   
"Can I sleep in detention, Tanya?" Chad replied, looking at her face. He noticed the light blue relaxed pants and yellow t-shirt she was wearing. It fit her perfectly. Though Tanya never claimed it, everyone said she had a fashion sense to one up a goddess. He looked around the room and saw three other girls wearing the same types of clothes that she had worn yesterday. He chuckled a bit to himself.  
"I don't think so. But don't ask me. I've never been there," Tanya replied, brushing back some of her red hair that seemed to annoy her. Her blue eyes stayed locked onto Chad, as if trying to draw out his soul, or at least search it. Truth be told, neither of them had ever had a detention. They weren't perfect goody-two-shoes, but they knew when to shut up and hang low.   
"Yeah, well, if I can sleep in detention, and I can get a detention by sleeping in class, it looks like a win-win situation to me," he said, shaking his head a bit, the drowsiness returning. Tanya sighed, shook her head, and went off to her own desk. Chad laid his head back in his arms and was about to go back to sleep when he was awoken by another voice.   
"Good morning, class!" Chad woke with a start, letting out a small gasp of surprise. He looked around to see his teacher walking to the front of the class. "I'm sorry, did I wake you, Mr. Shigeru?" he said.   
"Uh... No, sir, Mr. Yamauchi. Just making sure I was well prepared for today's learning! Going through the last two chapters in my head, eh heh..." Chad replied, quickly wiping a small pool of drool, which had accumulated while he slept, off his desk.   
Mr. Yamauchi stood for a few seconds, glaring at Chad. "I'm sure you were," he said, and set his books on his desk, and pulled out an attendace paper. Tanya couldn't help herself, and finally let out a little giggle. "Ms. Hitoshi, do you find Mr. Shigeru funny?" he asked her, setting the paper on his desk.   
Tanya sat straight up, brushing her hair back, before replying. "No, sir."  
"Does anyone else find Mr. Shigeru funny?" he asked the rest of the class. Some kids lifted their hands for a split second, then put them back down. This brought a few smiles from others, but no more noises. "Good" he said. "Now I hope you all did yesterday's assignment..." Chad's eyes felt listless as he tried to stay awake through the teacher's droning. He started to lean back over his desk when a sudden "slam" of a book hitting a tiled floor brought him to the world of the awakened. Mr. Yamauchi stooped over to get his book, and Chad smiled and waved at him as he stood back up.

* * *

"You know he hates sleeping kids in class," a black-haired boy said to Chad. He stared at a sandwhich that his mom had packed him for lunch. Bologna. Chad didn't like bologna. He looked back up at the boy, slightly annoyed.  
"I know, I know. But it's not like I could help it. I mean, if I was able to sleep at night. But I can't, because of that da-" he was cut off by Tanya, approaching with another girl, lunch trays in hand.  
"The dream? The dream is still keeping you awake?" she asked as she sat down. Her friend stared for a moment, then sat as well.  
"Well, duh, Tanya. Maybe it was the boogyman..." the boy replied, making some claw motions with his hands as well as some unusual sounds.  
"Shutup, Richy," Tanya remarked harshly, sending him into a state of silence. He looked at the girls with his brown eyes, who were sitting opposite of him, for a moment before he picked up his own sandwhich and took a big bite.   
"So who's your friend?" Richy asked Tanya with a half-full mouth, motioning toward her friend who remained silent. At the mention of her being there, she blushed underneath her blue eyes, and hung her head, letting her red hair swing around her shoulders, trying to hide in some obscure way.   
"What? Oh! Oh, man, I'm sorry! Guys, this is Ariel Kanzaki," she said, putting her hand on Ariel's shoulder. Ariel looked up slightly with a look that was either scared or shy. Maybe both. "She just transfered here, and I've been helping her around the school, since I seem to have a lot of classes with her. Ariel, this is Chad Miyamoto, and Richard Somanse." She pointed to each of the boys with their respective names.  
"It's Richy," Richy said, glaring at Tanya. He looked over at Ariel with a softer expression. He studied her a bit longer, and got an odd look about his face. "Nice to meet you. Where'd you come from?" he asked her. Richy was then jabbed in the sides by Chad, which brought Richy out of his hormone-induced stuper.  
"Hey. I think- hope- my gender-greating-challenged friend means what school did you come from," Chad said, explaining Richy. He gave Richy another soft jab, and Richy shut his mouth before saying anything more.  
Ariel looked nervously at the both of them. She swung her head to Tanya, who just smiled, and Ariel turned back to Chad and Richy. "Um... A-a school in the United States. My parents are some sort of diplomat or something, I'm not exaclty sure, and we were over their for a year on some sort of abroad study or something. Before that I used to live in a mid-sized town about 30 kilometers south of Tokyo," she said. She opened her mouth, then closed it quickly, and blushed. She was afraid she was talking too much.  
Richy stared at her for a few seconds, making her slightly uncomfortable. "Huh," he said finally, shaking his head. "You'll have to tell me about the Americans. I hear they have all these crazy things." He took another big bite out of his sanwhich. Chad looked at his again, and gave up on the notion of using brain power to change it. He took a bit of his, too.  
"Oh, they're not that different," Ariel replied, picking up her fork and just shoving at whatever was on her plate. Tanya, meanwhile, had finished half of her lunch, content to listen to the other three at her table. The rest of lunch time was spent in relative silence.  
Chad knew what Tanya was thinking about. Tanya was recalling what Chad had told her about his dream. She was trying to interpret it, as she always tried to do to things. Chad looked over at Richy who had his mouth open and his sandwhich half-way to his mouth, but it was just frozen in place. Chad jabbed Richy once more, and Richy quickly put his sandwhich all the way to his mouth. A bit too quickly. He missed the sandwhich, and bite the hand holding it.  
"OW!" he cried, dropping his sandwhich. Ariel just blushed and tried to eat some of her food. Chad sighed and turned back to his thoughts. Tanya was staring at him, trying to conceal her eyes with her hair. She was kind of freaky like that, but Chad seemed to like that, though he didn't know why. What he did know that any second she was going to ask him-  
"So how did your dream go again?" Tanya asked Chad, right on cue. Chad just smiled, looked at Richy, who just laughed softly. Richy was pretty good at judging other people, and could tell that subject would be brought up. Chad related his nightmare for what he though was the hundreth time, and Tanya sat quietly for a bit after hearing it, rubbing the side of her face. Ariel had stopped eating, trying to understand what they were talking about. "Odd," Tanya said. "The... whatever, must be some sort of symbol for a fear you have. The cave could be a shelter you're using now to cover the fear. The voice might be the answer or savior. But you have to find the answer yourself, so that's why you never see it." She rubbed her chin, thinking.  
"I don't think the entire thing was a metaphore," Chad replied, giving her a quizzical look. "It seemed to real. As if I was experiencing it," he said, and stopped about what he was going to say. Something clicked. "Even with the nightmares, I still get about six hours of sleep a night. That should allow me to go throw school without being so tired. What if, when I'm sleeping, I'm not really sleeping, but am actually in this place?" That got weird stares from everyone.  
"That's absurd," Richy said, swallowing the rest of his sandwhich. "Even on the impossible chance that you were somehow taken away to another place, you can't re-act the same events the same way that many times. It's mathematically impossible," he said, always the math brain. Richy was somewhat of a nerd around school, and had pride for that.  
"What about some sort of time loop?" Chad asked. "All that quan-quanta-"  
"Quantum physics? Not from the way you explain it. You would have encountered yourself five times over if that was so. And it can't be. That's impossible, too. Or have you gotten back into your old space journey books?"  
Chad looked down at his own half-remaining sandwhich, the words excaping from his mouth. He knew this whole ordeal was stupid. He was making a fool of himself, in front of his friends. Quantum physics, indeed. "No...," he said, looking back at Richy, "I'm just trying to make sense of it, I guess." He was about to say more, but the bell rang. He ate what he could stuff in his mouth of his sandwhich, tossed the rest in the trash, and walked back to his locker.

* * *

Tanya watched Ariel as they walked to their lockers from lunch. Ariel had a slight blush about her, her head hanging a bit low. Tanya, being a people person, took a guess as to why. But she waited until they got to their lockers. The school had put Ariel next to Tanya, to make it more convienent for Tanya to show Ariel around.  
"You like him, don't you?" Tanya asked Ariel in a conversational tone as she opened up her locker.   
Ariel stopped dead in her movements, almost dropping her books. She collected those that started sliding, and opened her own locker. "Well, Chad is very nice, but I don't think he li-"  
"I don't mean Chad."  
Ariel was silent. In the short time she'd been here, she'd gotten to know Tanya a bit, but not very much. She had nevre guessed Tanya was an excellent judge of character and feelings. Ariel was coming to understand why some called Tanya 'the well-dressed therapist.' "Um... Richy is... alright. He seems to be a bit too girl crazy, though. Probably just staring at me because I'm a girl," she replied as she put what books she had into her locker and pulled out her phys ed clothes.  
"Okay. Then why wasn't he staring at me? I know you think that I'm prettier than you are, even though I don't think so," she replied, switching her own books for her clothes. She was right. Ariel, in all her doubts, constantly put herself down. She wondered if the school had put her with someone much more pretty as an insult. But, accodring to those who had met her, she was off base. While she had hadn't much to boast about, her figure and face gave a soft feeling to many of the males in the high school they attended.   
She knew Tanya was right about Richy, too. He hadn't even looked much at Tanya, even when speaking to her. To her, though, it seemed like he was playing, since he had made it too obvious. But, Tanya had told her that he, being a geek, had a bit of a social problem, especially around girls he was attracted to.  
"So are you going to try to make a move or wait for him to?" Tanya asked Ariel as they walked toward the gym. The question caught her off guard, and she stumbled a bit.   
"I, uh, I-" Ariel said, trying to think of what to say.   
"I guess it doesn't matter right now. You both have some time ahead of you to work out a relationship," Tanya said, looking at Ariel and cocking an eye, a grin on her face. Ariel sighed inward, thankful that her friend had given her a way out. They continued to the gym without another word.

* * *

"You like her, don't you?" Chad asked Richy as they walked into the science classroom. Richy set his books down and turned around, making eye contact with Chad. Chad just smiled. He knew the answer, and Richy didn't have to answer. The question was actually more rehtorical.  
"Yes," Richy answered anyway. The truth was that, yeah, he liked Ariel, but he wasn't quite sure why yet. Something about her just captivated him. That troubled the scientific part of his mind, who wanted a factual answer for everyting. But this was love, he reminded himself. What could he do about it? "So? You like Tanya. Not like there's anything to hide, really," he replied as he sat down.  
"Maybe so," Chad replied as he took his seat. It was true. He did _like_ Tanya, but he didn't know if she _liked_ him back. He hoped she did.  
"Hey, guys," another student said as he walked over. Nearly six feet tall, Kyle Hangata was all mucle, no fat. If he had cared, he could have been a sports star or the school bully, but neither appealed to him. He didn't have a great interest for sports, though he liked to work out, and didn't especially like violence, which kept him from being a school bully, which was all better to Chad and Richy, who were good friends of his, more the latter than the former. Though he wasn't a bully himself, Kyle made sure bullies stayed awat from his friends. Kyle's friendship with Richy worked both ways, as Kyle wasn't the smartest guy in school. Richy tutored him on many things, which helped Kyle immensly in school.  
"Hey Kyle," Richy replied as Kyle took his own seat. "Ready for the test today?" It was nearing the end of school, so teachers were placing tests left and right to try to make up for what they may have missed by actually trying to have fun. This particular teacher just liked seeing kids squirm, and as such handed out tests and pop quizes frequently.  
Kyle nodded. They had gone over all the information the night before, and he was pretty sure that Richy had explained it in such a way that he understood and hopefully remembered it all. He quickly ran through what he could remember in his head, and glanced at his notes to see if he was missing anything. "How about you, Chad?" he asked without looking up from his notes.  
Chad just leaned back in his chair. Science had been no problem for him, which was a first, so he had no worries. "Easy A," he replied. "Or at least a B plus," he said as he leaned back farther. The door to their classroom opened, the teacher entered, and shouted "Good morning class!" over a megaphone. Chad and everyone who had leaned back far enough fell backwards. Their science teacher also liked to play his own jokes.  


* * *

Tanya and Ariel waited back by the goal for the ball to come towards them. Tanya was a big fan of soccer, and loved it when they played it in phys ed, especially when it was indoors. On this particular day, their field had just been re-painted, and to let the paint stay on as long as possible they tried to keep people off the field, at least those who don't require it. And they could play soccer just as well indoors, though they had to make sure it didn't go too hard and too high, lest it hit a light.   
Ariel wasn't as thrilled by sports, but she didn't mind a good game herself, either. She was glad that it was her and Tanya back there. She had made a friend in Tanya, and being one who gets shy easily, it worked to her benefit. She felt more relaxed when she was around Tanya. She valued friends among many other things.   
"Get ready," Tanya said. Ariel wasn't paying attention, and turned her head toward Tanya to ask what Ariel wanted. Before she could ask, she felt the ball hit her in the arm. It richoched off her arm and towards the bleachers.   
While she was shy, Ariel didn't like looking like a fool. After regaining her footing, she took off after the soccer ball. After slight hesitation and wondering whether she should stay with the goalie in case the ball came back faster then they could, Tanya took off towards the ball as well. The girls reached the ball well before any of the other players. Just as Ariel was about to kick it to the other side of the gym, the ground started shaking.  
Tanya looked up and around. An earthquake? They didn't get those around here. She couldn't remember exactly, but she didn't recall a fault line being enarby, either. What was going on? She heard some screaming as the intensity increased, and turned around to see Ariel looking at the something with shocked horror. She turned more and saw what the fuss was about. Part of the ceiling was collapsing, causing some of the girls to freeze where they were and hope they weren't hit. But there was something else that caught her eye. A small vortex. That was quickly growing bigger.

Kyle was flying through the test. He decided that he had either absorbed the info really well, or was just putting down a lot of bull that sounded good. He was halfway through it, to the essay section, when he felt the ground shaking. Every student in the classroom looked up from their tests and around the room. Most stopped on the science teacher, who was just as confused. A second's delay, and then it clicked. An earthquake.  
Richy echoed his thoughts. "Earthquake?" he asked out loud to no one in particular.   
The shaking started getting more violent, and the teacher decided it was a good time for a field trip. "Okay, no one panic. We're all going to head outside for the moment, and wait this out outside." That way we don't have to worry about the ceiling crashing on us, he didn't add, though everyone was thinking something similar. Including, it seemed, the principle, who barked orders over the speakers, but with a heavier tone than their teacher had done.   
The students all stood up, some calmer than others, and headed toward the door. As they did, the shaking got even worse, and panic started to overtake them. They went to the door, and started pushing their way through, joining students coming from other classes, wanting to get out, not to get hit or crushed.   
Richy was one of the last ones able to get out, since his seat was closer to front and was calmer than the others. He was about to leave as well when he heard a small groan behind him. He turned to see Chad leaning over his desk, eyes shut tight.   
"Common, Chad! You don't want to get buried, do you?" Richy said, moving towards Chad a bit.   
Chad opened one eye slightly and turned it to look at Richy. "Of course not. But I can't... can't move. My head... it hurts...," he replied, and then closed his eye again, gritting his teeth, in pain somehow. Richy looked him over, but couldn't tell how he was in pain. He had no bruises that Richy could see, no cuts or anything else. Richy couldn't understand what was wrong, so he moved closer to Chad, momentarily forgetting the quake. "No...," Chad said again. Richy could hear his breathing; it was raspy and harsh. "Get out. If the ceiling falls, and crushes you... it's my fault. _Go._" Richy had started to take another step, but stopped at that last command. He hesitated for the moment, but the shaking grew more violent, and he went off with the rest of his class.

The vortex was bigger now. Much, much bigger. The teacher had panicked and ran out, leaving the all-female class to themselves. Some were trying to hurry others out, some just stood in place confused. Others stood in place and watched the vortex as it changed. Once just grey, they could now see a landscape with it. It was a forest, but the colors were all wrong. There were pink leaves with orange trunks. The grass seemed to change colors on it's own, and different patches were different colors. Tanya and Ariel, the two closest to it, just watched in amazement. Something screamed in the back of their minds of the danger all around and that the void could be dangerous, but they paid no head to the voice.   
Those with stronger wills and determination had finally gotten the rest of the class to go into the hall and follow the steady stream of students making their way out. "Common!" one other girl said. She had hung back, making sure everyone had left. But no matter what, these two others wouldn't leave. She ran up and started grabbing them and pulling them, but they wouldn't budge. They weren't resisting her, but they just wouldn't move.  
"Go," Tanya said to the other girl. She hesitated, then went and took off.  
"Um... Tanya? We should get out of here...," Ariel said, looking side to side but never really removing her eyes from the vortex. It was mesmerizing. The scene suddenly changed to a vast desert. This scene wasn't as colorful as the forest had been, but odd structures stood out. They looked almost like telephone poles, though there were no wires attached. The scene changed again, this time to the base of a mountain. There was a forest here, but not with all the colors, and it suddenly just stopped and turned into a plain. A sudden jolt of the ground brought the girls back to their sences. The shook their heads clean of whatever had a hold of them, and looked around, just in time to see the ceiling start caving in. They both ran in the first direction that struct them; they ran straight into the vortex. The ceiling collapsed.  
  
Chad sat at his desk, the ground still shaking. He couldn't move. He didn;t know why, and that scared him, but he couldn't move. There was a pain all through his body, but he hadn't been hit by anything. He just sat there, willing every muscle in his body to move, but none would respond. Suddenly a fog drifted through his mind, and he felt sleepy. He fought it. He knew that if he wanted to get out of this and escape whatever danger there might be, he had to stay awake, had to move, had to get out of there, _run run run... _But he lost. The last thing he heard or saw was the ceiling caving in as his body relaxed and his eyes closed.

* * *

Kyle and Richy stood outside, watching the buildings from an open hill where everyone had gathered. Most of the students just took this like a fire drill, and sat around and talked. They knew they were relatively safe in the open. Richy stood there and talked to Kyle, relating what had happened to Chad. Richy still couldn't understand why Chad couldn't come with him. He hoped Chad was alright.  
The teacher from the gym class had regained control of herself, and was doing the same with her students. She was counting heads and making sure everyone got out. Richy wondered why his science teacher hadn't done the same, and started to turn to tell the teacher that Chad was still in there. He stopped when he heard one of the girls say that Tanya and Ariel were still inside. He turned, wanting to hear more. Just as he did, his eye caught movement in the school building. He turned that way. No, it wasn't movement in the building. It was movement _of_ the building. And just like that, the roofs of the sceince room and gym collapsed. Richy froze, speechless. Now what would he do?

_To be continued..._


End file.
